Battle of Miandoab (1921)

Battle of Miandoab
Part of the Simko Shikak revolt (1918-1922)
Date September1921 Location Miandoab, West Azerbaijan, Iran Result Kurdish victory Detachment was completely defeated
Belligerents
Shekak tribe	Qajar
Commanders and leaders
Simko Shikak	Hasan Arfa
Strength
4,000	Detachment of 800 men, a machine gun company
Casualties and losses
Unknown	400 dead, 15 captured (later killed)

The Battle of Miandoab involved a detachment led by Hasan Arfa, sent from Tehran to Tabriz, being attacked by Simko's forces in September 1921.

Background

In Summer 1921, a gendarmerie detachment of three infantry companies, a machine-gun company, and two cavalry squadrons was sent from Tehran to Tabriz to reinforce local forces consisting of four infantry companies, a machine-gun company, two cavalry squadrons, and six light mountain guns. Hasan Arfa, the commander of a fleet sent from Tehran, was sent with his fleet to reinforce a detachment of eight hundred men holding the Mahabad region south of Lake Rezaiya.

Battle

The detachment came under surprise attack by Simko's 4,000-man force during the evacuation, suffering a decisive defeat and leaving over 400 dead.

Aftermath

After this Kurdish victory, all the Kurdish tribes Mamash, Mangur, Dehbokri, Piran, Zerza, Gewirk, Feyzollahbegi, Poshtdari, Bane and Qaderkhani of Mahabad region joined Simko and threatened Miandoab and Maragheh.

Hasan Arfa, who fought in the battle, describes what happened after the incident:

As I had only one hundred men all told, and the men who had escaped from the Mahabad carnage were so demoralized that I had to send them all to Tabriz, I found myself at a loss as to how to organize the defence of that sector. Fortunately, when I arrived in Miandoab, I found there some five hundred horsemen from the Afshar Azeri tribes of Sayin Qal'eh (Shahin Dezh) under their tribal chiefs. Taking them under my command, I organized a detachment of six hundred men and occupied the line of the Tatava river which formed there the linguistic frontier between the Azeri Turks and the Kurds. A few days later, I was relieved by a force of three hundred Iranian Cossacks, and after returning to Tabriz I proceeded.

Sources

• Bocheńska, Joanna (2018). Rediscovering Kurdistan's Cultures and Identities: The Call of the Cricket. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-93088-6.
• Arfa, Hassan (1966). The Kurds: An Historical and Political Study. Oxford University Press.
• Bulut, Faik (2005). Dar üçgende üç isyan: Kürdistan'da etnik çatışmalar tarihi (in Turkish). Evrensel Basım Yayın. p. 213. ISBN 978-975-6106-01-3.